


A Lake In The Cave

by grammaticallywrong



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M, Past Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:35:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27903079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grammaticallywrong/pseuds/grammaticallywrong
Summary: They grew up together, until they started growing apart.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Do Kyungsoo | D.O, Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	A Lake In The Cave

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of this wonderful photoset: 
> 
> https://twitter.com/captionthiscb/status/1335258596150415361?s=20

* * *

Baekhyun wipes his sweaty palms against his jacket. Sehun would’ve scolded him should he had seen the small gesture. “You’re going to ruin the material,” He would've said. But Sehun is not here now and Baekhyun is safe. So Baekhyun wipes his palms against his clothing, his suit pants this time, and takes a big breath.

He sees him in the corner, leaning towards a panel full of different photos of different sizes. They were each taken at different stages of his life - unironically the title of his exhibit. The tall man standing intimidatingly at six foot two, long thick fingers gently holding the stem of a flute half filled with Champagne. 

Champagne from Champagne, France, of course, because Baekhyun wouldn't have it any other way even though his fiancée insisted that the local Brut would have sufficed. Baekhyun had rolled his eyes, his fiancée had kissed him on his temples.

Baekhyun sees the blond man’s shoulder shake in laughter. Baekhyun watches the latter cock his hips, leaning his lean body on one leg. He is endearing still, Baekhyun thinks and he gulps his worry away.

“I see you’ve chanced upon my piece de resistance,” Baekhyun comments as he nears the taller figure. He stops a couple of feet away, the air around them still, but not suffocating. The taller man shifts his body towards him and Baekhyun unconsciously holds his breath in anticipation.

Blond hair stylishly framing his face, charming ears peeking through the veil of white, a strong chin, and an even stronger, more regal nose sitting in between the most beautiful eyes Baekhyun has ever seen. 

“Baek! It’s been a while!” Park Chanyeol comments, his eyes crinkling in the familiar way Baekhyun remembers. Baekhyun expects pain to sting his heart but he only feels warmth. His friend is home.

Baekhyun feels his lungs fill with air as he returns the jovial smile, feeling the rush of blood return to his brain. Happiness is what he feels, and he’s happy Chanyeol is back.

“You rascal! I can’t believe you flew all the way to Italy to view my exhibit,” Baekhyun retorts back. 

“Of course, I wouldn’t miss your international debut for anything,” Chanyeol’s eyes sparkle, and Baekhyun can feel his world tilt back to its axis. 

Chanyeol and he… they both go all the way back. From the very first time Chanyeol scraped his knees in kindergarten, prompting Baekhyun to scare the bullies away with his amazing hapkido skills; to the first time they shared the same bed, the taller scared that the monsters underneath would devour him whole. Baekhyun never once made fun of Chanyeol’s phobia of the dark, or perhaps it was the fact that Chanyeol will forever be scared of being alone. Nevertheless, Baekhyun was always there.

They shared lunch boxes and coffee cups. Geography notes in high school when one would be absent because of a cold, or because Chanyeol decided to, once again, rescue the stray cat shivering away behind the dumpster one cold winter morning. Baekhyun made up the most hilarious excuse and he’s sure Mrs. Zhang never bought it one bit. 

They shared dorm rooms in university even though Chanyeol literally had to buy a fucking Vespa just so he can make it in class on time. He studied engineering, for fuck’s sake, and his building was a good ten minutes away on his bike. But Chanyeol endured it anyway because Baekyhun was his best friend and he didn’t want to leave him alone in his big, scary, dorm room full of art students. 

They shared a blanket when Chanyeol invited Baekhyun to go on top of the hills once. It was night time and Baekhyun was shivering, knees knocking against each other in his body’s attempt to shake the coldness away. 

It was for his project, Chanyeol had said, and Baekhyun hummed as they both lied down, arms touching each other, their little fingers centimeters away from crossing the line. They both gazed at the stars that night, Chanyeol tracing the bright lights with his index, Baekhyun drowning and bones vibrating in the thrum of his voice. 

Baekhyun had leaned towards Chanyeol to ask which of the constellations the sequence of the stars were right next to Sirius when Chanyeol pressed his lips against his. 

Baekhyun remembered sighing his worries away, his body melting at the obvious loss of tension. Years upon years of pent up frustration gone within seconds. Like how galaxies were born in the blink of an eye, both Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s love for each other grew and grew and grew.

Until it didn’t.

\---

One fact that Baekhyun was proud of was that the entire debacle wasn’t messy. 

Of course he cried his heart out surrounded by bottles of wine, tubs of ice cream and air fried homerun balls. Jongdae and Sehun were crying with him, not because they too broke up with Park Chanyeol, but because Landon had fallen in love with Jamie and all three of them know how A Walk to Remember ends. 

They were with him up until the present. The grieving was necessary, and Baekhyun called it grieving because he was. In a way. He grieved for the future he dreamt with his best friend, the white picket fence house, and the parade of dogs that would’ve littered across his bow-legged feet. 

But Chanyeol wasn’t gone. Not entirely. Not _his_ Chanyeol anyway. He was still there. In the bright shining sun, the powder blue sky and with each passing cloud reminding of a memory both once shared. 

Both Baekhyun and Chanyeol were each other’s firsts even though they weren’t each other’s last. 

And that was okay.

Baekhyun thought back to that one night he felt like throwing his phone across the room when he received a text from the taller. It was a simple _hi_. One word, two letters, yet it carried the weight of Baekhyun’s world. Baekhyun thought of blocking him, but he was 24 years old and he was more mature than that.

And so they rekindled their friendship, communicating each other’s boundaries, slowly building up the friendship they thought they had lost, sharing anecdotes of their childhood, laughing at how stupid they were for ignoring each other's process. Them getting together was inevitable, one form or another. It was a slow and painful process and it took years for Baekhyun to become comfortable with his own thoughts and feelings. But Baekhyun is a smart cookie and he has always learned from his past. 

(He didn’t want to call it ‘mistakes’. Park Chanyeol is _not_ a mistake. Not ever.)

“Ah, there he is!” Chanyeol suddenly exclaims.

“Chanyeol-ah!” Baekhyun turns around to the deep voice, like hot chocolate in a cold winter. This time, Baekyhun’s face considerably brightens, heart feeling fuller than ever at the sight of his fiancée. He watches his two most favorite people in the world give each other the tightest of hugs, and the strongest pats in the back. A loud boisterous laugh can be heard from their corner as Chanyeol tries to keep his fiancée in a headlock, the latter playfully protesting the friendly assault. Baekhyun can only shake his head in adoration. 

Kyungsoo was, to say the least, the most wonderful man Baekhyun has ever had the pleasure to meet. 

Kind, patient, loving, _present_. 

Present in his heart shaped lips, and gummy smiles; big round eyes twinkling with emotion. Present in the different ways that Chanyeol was. Presence filling in every crevice of Baekhyun’s skin and broken heart. It was never good to compare but Baekhyun thought Kyungsoo was his second half with the way they naturally fit.

Kyungsoo puts his arm around Baekhyun in a tight hug and the latter sees Chanyeol smile. Not a trace of bitterness behind the soft upturn of his lips and his gentle eyes. Baekhyun can feel his heart swell in fulfillment as he sees Chanyeol's smile in gratitude, in love, and pride at how the both them grew. 

They grew together, and they grew apart. And they will continue to grow apart, but instead of away from each other they will grow parallel to each other - always close, yet never touching. 

Chanyeol is okay, Baekhyun is okay. And that’s all both can ask for from each other. 

Baekhyun thinks it’s fate that he met Kyungsoo through Chanyeol. Ironically, unironically, Baekhyun mentally shrugs. It never mattered how it looked like to other people. He is surrounded by the people he loves and the universe just happens to decide that they love him back all the same.

Life is what one makes it and Baekhyun will always be thankful that he met Chanyeol. He was both the question and the answer, and he will continue to be the only unchanging constant in his life. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


END.

**Author's Note:**

> I got carried away ;~;
> 
> anyw, i'd like to think that chanyeol was looking at the photo of him and baek playing at a lake in a cave. there is no significance. it is not a 'the curtain is blue' moment. unless... 
> 
> ~ lots of love, r.


End file.
